From an Israeli Settlement, a Rabbi’s Unorthodox Plan for Peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - December 5, 2008 - 1:00am ABOUT two weeks ago Menachem Froman, the chief rabbi of this Jewish settlement perched on the edge of the Judean desert, had a dream. In the dream, he recounted in an interview this week, he was sitting with the late Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat “as we used to.” “It was like he was pushing me to continue in my efforts to make peace between our peoples,” he said. » Read more

New Tensions in Jerusalem’s Arab Neighborhoods ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - December 6, 2008 - 1:00am A series of recent Israeli actions in the mainly Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem have raised tensions there, with Palestinian and Israeli critics contending that they are part of a wider plan to “Judaize” historically charged areas around the Old City. » Read more

In Gaza, No Cash for Holiday ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Linda Gradstein - December 8, 2008 - 1:00am Every year, Ali Hussein, 35, looks forward to Eid al-Adha, the Muslim Feast of the Sacrifice, which begins Monday. He works for the police force and earns a good salary by Gazan standards, about $800 a month. Along with some friends, he buys a sheep every year, slaughters it and donates the meat to the poor. He buys new clothes and special sweets for his four young sons, and he gives his mother, sisters, nephews and nieces gifts of cash. » Read more

Obama team's warring Middle East views ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Politico by Ben Smith - December 6, 2008 - 1:00am President-elect Barack Obama and his presumptive secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton, both pledged during the campaign to press for peace in the Middle East. But the Middle East conflict is, perhaps unsurprisingly, already playing out on a small scale within Obama’s own transition. Top policy jobs haven’t been filled — the org chart, insiders say, hasn’t even been drawn — but Middle East politics watchers, and Obama backers concerned with Israel, are carefully eyeing the interplay between two of his most important advisers on the Middle East. » Read more